Questions Worth
Straight Answers

We are a bookkeeping firm, not a CPA firm. We don't prepare or file tax returns. What we do is keep your books clean and current so that your CPA has accurate, organized records at year-end — which can meaningfully reduce what you pay your CPA in preparation time.

If you need a CPA referral in the Baton Rouge area, ask us. We work alongside CPAs regularly and can recommend people we trust.

Job costing is tracking revenue and costs at the individual job level rather than lumping everything into one P&L. Instead of seeing "labor: $14,000 this month," you see what each job, truck, or technician actually cost and generated.

If you run more than one truck or employ more than one tech, job costing is almost always worth it. It's the difference between knowing your business is profitable overall versus knowing which parts of it are profitable — and which are quietly eating margin.

It's a forward-looking model that projects your cash position over the next 90 days based on expected revenue, fixed costs, and known upcoming expenses. We build it with three scenarios: Base (realistic), Best (things go well), and Worst (slower period or unexpected cost).

For HVAC, this is most valuable heading into fall and winter when demand drops. Knowing in August that you're going to hit a cash squeeze in November gives you time to prepare — rather than finding out in November.

We work with SurePayroll for payroll processing and can coordinate with them directly. Payroll is handled as an add-on to our bookkeeping service. We post payroll journal entries, reconcile payroll accounts, and make sure everything flows correctly into your P&L.

The dashboard is a 4-page visual report built on top of your Xero data. It covers:

• Executive Command Center — top-line KPIs, revenue vs. prior period, net income snapshot
• Financial Intelligence — P&L deep dive, margin analysis, expense breakdown
• Operational Performance — job costing, truck and tech performance
• Forecasting — 90-day cash projection with scenario toggle

It updates monthly and lives at a private URL you can bookmark. No spreadsheet required on your end.

For most new clients, onboarding takes 1-2 weeks. That covers: getting Xero set up with your chart of accounts, connecting your bank feeds, getting login access to existing accounts, and a kickoff call to walk through what we're building and why.

If there's a significant cleanup of prior-period books, that adds time. We'll tell you the estimate on the assessment call.

Ideally: access to your current accounting software (or bank statements if you haven't been using one), a list of your bank and credit card accounts, and a basic overview of how your business is structured. You don't need your books to be clean — that's our job. You just need to be able to get us read-only access to your accounts.

We send a simple onboarding checklist after the assessment call so nothing falls through.

We work exclusively in Xero. If you're on QuickBooks, we handle the migration completely — including your historical data and open invoices. Most clients find the switch is easier than they expected, and the Xero setup we build for HVAC is significantly more useful than what they had before.

Xero's bank feed reliability, real-time reporting, and field software integrations (ServiceTitan, Jobber, Housecall Pro) are consistently better for trades contractors. The tracking categories in Xero also make job costing cleaner than QuickBooks. We've used both — Xero wins for HVAC.

That said, if you're already on QuickBooks and it's working, we're honest about that on the assessment call. We don't force a migration if it's not warranted.

Yes. Xero integrates directly with both ServiceTitan and Jobber so invoices and payments sync automatically — no double entry. We set up and test the integration as part of onboarding so it flows correctly from day one.

Yes — you get full access to your Xero account. We give you a plain-English walkthrough so you can read your own P&L, check your cash position, and understand what the numbers mean without needing an accounting degree. The goal is for you to actually use the information.

HVAC contractors are our primary focus. We also work with plumbing, electrical, and general contracting businesses. We don't serve restaurants, retail, or random LLCs — every system we've built is optimized for trades businesses with seasonal cash flow and job-level cost tracking.

Our primary markets are Louisiana and Wisconsin. We occasionally take clients in other states if they're HVAC contractors and a strong fit. Call us and we'll be straight with you about whether it makes sense.

Book a free 30-minute assessment at 911bookkeepers.youcanbook.me or call (225) 274-6576. We'll look at your books, tell you what needs to happen, and give you a proposal. No obligation, no pressure.